Tunnel Lady: Downtown Murals Fading Away?

The Muted Hues of Houston mural on the Houston Club building at Capitol and Milam. (Katherine Feser / Houston Chronicle photo)

Sandra Lord, known as the “Tunnel Lady” because she conducts walking tours of Houston’s extensive downtown tunnel system, has made an above-ground observation: another downtown mural by Suzanne Sellers is going away.

Sellers is a local artist known for public art commissions.

Her Muted Hues of History piece on the side of the Houston Club building will give way to the wrecking ball when Skanska USA clears the site for its new Capitol Tower building.

A tile replica of the wall mural painted by the artist. (Skanska USA photo)

“Sellers’ third downtown mural, the 41-foot-by-94-foot Muted Hues of History, is her most famous. Completed in May 2000, it enlivens the Capitol Avenue and Milam Street wall of the 1956 Houston Club Building with its homage to Houston history (the fourth City Hall to sit in Market Square Park, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, First Methodist Church, the downtown skyline dominated by the 1929 Gulf Building, and row houses in Houston’s historic wards) and industry (oil, cotton, and the Port of Houston). “Historically, I wish to represent Houston during the early part of the 20th century, when Houston was really taking off,” said Sellers.”

A few years ago, Sellers’ 1998 mural depicting a market scene on the side of the Treebeard’s building on Market Square was lost when structural repairs were made to the wall. It’s now the site of a Houston scene by graffiti artist Gonzo 247.

Sellers’ original mural from 1994 remains: a trompe l’oeil scene of downtown buildings painted onto two sides of a historic building at 1621 Milam.

Because the mural is painted directly on the brick exterior of the building, it will not be moved to another location, said Shelby Adams of Skanska USA. The Skanka team was able to safely remove a tile replica of the wall mural painted by the artist that was also in the building (pictured) and plans to give it to the artist.

Demolition of the building has begun and will continue through the end of the year, according to Skanska USA.